I know I'm in the minority here---but I think a TV show about Allied POW's in German "Stalag" camps is in horribly bad taste. It's a fact that the friendly Germans routinely withheld food, medical care, and even the scarcest bit of human compassion from Allied flyers. Many American POW's were executed by the Germans for escape attempts. Talk to any American ex-POW (if you can find one---they're vanishing pretty quickly)--- and ask him how many "fun times" he had in German camps. Sorry, I know I should ease up, but this whole concept is the un-funniest thing I've ever seen. What's next? A comedy about Auschwitz?

Jeez...
Lighten up. It was a comedy sitcom! It was made to poke fun at the Germans. It's TELEVISION!!!!!!!!

------------------
Jenny

Hey Jenny, I'm with you! I mean, Gomer Pyle wasn't exactly the ideal member of the USMC, but that show still succeeded. The reason we like TV is because it's great escape because of it's unbelieveability!

Besides, a show with that many guys in it can't be half bad http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/wink.gif

I wonder if Hogan's Heroes could have been set during the Civil War with Hogan and the gang being Union soldiers in a Confederate prison camp. Perhaps there would not have been as much objection as I'm sure there must have been when the series first aired. Or possibly the Revolutionary War with Hogan based in a British prison camp.

Interesting thought. I wonder what kind of uproar would have occured had they set it in the Vietnam War being that that was current. They had POW's in Vietnam didn't they?

I think there would be a major controversy if Hogan's Heroes were made today and it was set in a prison camp in North Vietnam. It would be too painful for the people living during that time. Some of the humor in the show requires technology like intercepting phone calls and imitating voices over the telephone. They would not be able to do this if it were set in the 1800s or the 1700s. They use the radio but I'm not sure how important that was for generating comedy. I think they could do the show without the radio.

Well, I knew there would be people telling me to lighten up, and perhaps they are right in saying so. It just seems odd to me that, with all the "creative" minds in the television industry, that someone would have to stoop to making a comedy out of Allied POW's in German camps. I wish the folks who tell me to lighten up would read a few pages of history and learn about the horrible conditions which existed in those prison camps. I just feel someone needs to stand up for the Allied troops that had to endure starvation and deprivation beyond belief, sometimes for years on end. Many of those men died with Nazi bullets in them. Just because it's 50 years later doesn't mean it's somehow become "funny". Well, I just hope someone shares my views, if not, so be it.

I appreciate your views on the great sacrifices our soldiers made during World
War II. We should never forget the cruelty
that the Germans inflicted on our soldiers.
Having said this, I do believe comedy
comes out of some horrible and depressing
situations. References, however vague, were
made in the show to some horrible things
that went on during this period. I don't
believe that a sitcom trivializes in any
way the Allied soldiers' bravery. It wasn't
meant to be anything but escapist fare. Remember, John Banner (Schulz) lost much
of his family to the Nazis. Other cast members had personal connections to this horrible time in our history and I think they
realize that the show was just a funny sitcom
with a wild premise.

Robert Clary was actually in a concentration camp, and he put that past him for this show.

Originally posted by FanMan
I know I'm in the minority here---but I think a TV show about Allied POW's in German "Stalag" camps is in horribly bad taste. It's a fact that the friendly Germans routinely withheld food, medical care, and even the scarcest bit of human compassion from Allied flyers. Many American POW's were executed by the Germans for escape attempts. Talk to any American ex-POW (if you can find one---they're vanishing pretty quickly)--- and ask him how many "fun times" he had in German camps. Sorry, I know I should ease up, but this whole concept is the un-funniest thing I've ever seen. What's next? A comedy about Auschwitz?


ya u need 2 lighten up yer ruinin television 4 everybody!

The show was a light-hearted look at a German POW camp. As was stated above, the real life stories of some of these actors are more grim. Both Banner and Klemperer were Jews who had escaped the Nazis by coming to the U.S. Banner, an Austrian Jew, had his entire family wiped out by the Nazis. Robert Clary (LeBeau) had actually been interned in a Nazi concentration camp when he was child.

Klemperer only agreed to play Col. Klink after he was assured that Klink would never succeed and would always look foolish.

These were individuals that were DIRECTLY affected by WWII and the Nazi's and the concentration camps, and they felt it was okay to be IN the show.

That's good enough for me.

Hogans Heros is currently broadcast on German TV dubbed in German. I'd say that could teach us something about taking the show lightly.

My father fought in World War II and loved Hogan's Heroes; so did his contemporaries. He used to watch the show and say, "Boy, we wished the Germans were that stupid!" Prisoner of war camps were not funny, and many men were punished and tortured. However, they were not concentration camps where people were deliberately chosen to be exterminated. Hogan's Heroes portrayed the war as we wished it could have been, with no one ever getting hurt.

yeah lol just a sitcom!!!

...intended to have "HOGAN'S HEROES" as a parody of those great World War II "gang caper" movies, "Stalag 17" and "The Great Escape"....only the missions that Colonel Hogan and his men were assigned to were "realistic"; the rest was pure farce! Real German officers NEVER acted the way Klink, Schultz, Burkhalter and the others did! And whoever heard of a small group of POW's "controlling" their own prison camp through elaborate deception and split-second timing? No, this was a COMEDY, through and through. I know most people feel uncomfortable and object to the whole idea behind the series, but then, "F TROOP" was never a true representation of the military in the "Wild West", either!

:tv:

... and the New York police force wasn't too happy with CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? ... nor were the Marines with GOMER PYLE! And, although it isn't
documented, NASA probably wasn't exactly thrilled with I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
But I loved all those shows and accepted them for what they are: comedy,
not reality (as I'm sure most viewers did). The early sixties were especially
characterized as a period when escapism was popular (particularly 1964, as
documented in THE TELEVISION YEARS by Arthur Shulman & Roger Youman).
We had just been through the assassination of President Kennedy and were
yearning for escape in 1964, and TV provided it in a number of different ways
(THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE MUNSTERS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, BEWITCHED, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, GOMER PYLE, etc.). Of course, 1964 was also
the year The Beatles conquered America. The following year, 1965, the TV
trend continued with more far-fetched comedies in the form of HOGAN'S
HEROES, F-TROOP, GET SMART, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, etc. By the end of
the decade, we also had such escapist fare as BATMAN, STAR TREK, THE
MONKEES, IT'S ABOUT TIME, THE FLYING NUN, and THE GHOST AND MRS.
MUIR. None of these shows reflected reality, but what they were was
inventive and imaginative programming (something we rarely see today).

...'tv star collector'- NASA was VERY HAPPY with the publicity "I DREAM OF JEANNIE" gave them every week! They gave Sidney Sheldon their full cooperation (and their California air base to film "location sequences" during the first two seasons) in filming the series....Hayden Rorke once stated that "Dr. Bellows" was never made to look like "a complete idiot" in any of his scenes [at least, in the earlier seasons and the scripts written by Sheldon himself]....and once in a while, Barbara and some of the cast would participate in a special NASA function.....so how could they object??

"CAR 54" got full cooperation from the New York Police Department as well.
Nat Hiken and his writers knew the difference between farce and "total unbelievablity"....nothing that Toody & Muldoon ever did as cops was "unbelievable"...exaggerated, yes, but NOT "unbelievable".


:tv:

Bob Crane (Col. Hogan) did promos for the US military. video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy9cL5HiZoE)

The show was a light-hearted look at a German POW camp. As was stated above, the real life stories of some of these actors are more grim. Both Banner and Klemperer were Jews who had escaped the Nazis by coming to the U.S. Banner, an Austrian Jew, had his entire family wiped out by the Nazis. Robert Clary (LeBeau) had actually been interned in a Nazi concentration camp when he was child.

Klemperer only agreed to play Col. Klink after he was assured that Klink would never succeed and would always look foolish.

These were individuals that were DIRECTLY affected by WWII and the Nazi's and the concentration camps, and they felt it was okay to be IN the show.

That's good enough for me.
:yeahthat

... and the New York police force wasn't too happy with CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? ... nor were the Marines with GOMER PYLE! And, although it isn't
documented, NASA probably wasn't exactly thrilled with I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
But I loved all those shows and accepted them for what they are: comedy,
not reality (as I'm sure most viewers did). The early sixties were especially
characterized as a period when escapism was popular (particularly 1964, as
documented in THE TELEVISION YEARS by Arthur Shulman & Roger Youman).
We had just been through the assassination of President Kennedy and were
yearning for escape in 1964, and TV provided it in a number of different ways
(THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE MUNSTERS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, BEWITCHED, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, GOMER PYLE, etc.). Of course, 1964 was also
the year The Beatles conquered America. The following year, 1965, the TV
trend continued with more far-fetched comedies in the form of HOGAN'S
HEROES, F-TROOP, GET SMART, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, etc. By the end of
the decade, we also had such escapist fare as BATMAN, STAR TREK, THE
MONKEES, IT'S ABOUT TIME, THE FLYING NUN, and THE GHOST AND MRS.
MUIR. None of these shows reflected reality, but what they were was
inventive and imaginative programming (something we rarely see today).


WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


About the 1964 part of your post. Lets not forget that LBJ signed the civil rights bill, Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize, and you throw in all the great TV show and the great music 1964 was a kick ass year:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

Well, I knew there would be people telling me to lighten up, and perhaps they are right in saying so. It just seems odd to me that, with all the "creative" minds in the television industry, that someone would have to stoop to making a comedy out of Allied POW's in German camps. I wish the folks who tell me to lighten up would read a few pages of history and learn about the horrible conditions which existed in those prison camps. I just feel someone needs to stand up for the Allied troops that had to endure starvation and deprivation beyond belief, sometimes for years on end. Many of those men died with Nazi bullets in them. Just because it's 50 years later doesn't mean it's somehow become "funny". Well, I just hope someone shares my views, if not, so be it.

I generally don't like military sitcoms either, but I do like Gomer Pyle and I find F Troop mildly amusing. It's all a matter of taste, what one person finds humor in, the next person may think is not funny at all.

I have very little doubt that the inspiration for Hogan's Heroes came from Bernard Fein's appearance in the Twilight Zone episode "He's Alive" which starred Dennis Hopper as the leader of a neo-nazi organization who is constantly heckled by Fein's character and others. Fein's costar in this episode was Howard Caine who played Major Hochstetter on Hogan's Heroes

There is something else too. This is not to accurate because look at what we are all overlooking: Ivan Dixon

Before 1948 the armed forces were segregated and just how did Kinche get in with the other guys in the first place? Not only that, there is a good possibility he may have been sent to a concentration camp. The nazi's weren't too crazy about black folks either.

Just saying.

There is something else too. This is not to accurate because look at what we are all overlooking: Ivan Dixon

Before 1948 the armed forces were segregated and just how did Kinche get in with the other guys in the first place? Not only that, there is a good possibility he may have been sent to a concentration camp. The nazi's weren't too crazy about black folks either.

Just saying.
Yeah, there were other black men wandering around there too. Mostly white Americans, but every now and then, you'd see a black guy. So like you said, that was far from realistic.